3 Chinese citizens killed in attack on Afghanistan-Tajikistan border

The Tajik and Chinese authorities on Thursday said that three Chinese workers were killed in an attack at the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border.

The Chinese embassy in Tajikistan said the attack was carried out on Wednesday evening in Tajikistan’s southwestern Khatlon province. It added that one person was also injured in the attack.

Separately, the Tajik foreign ministry said the attack “was carried out with firearms and a drone loaded with grenade”.

Without naming the Taliban, Tajikistan blamed the Islamist group for the attack.

In an apparent reference to the Taliban, the foreign ministry said that “criminal groups located in the neighbouring country (Afghanistan) continue to commit acts aimed at destabilising the situation in the border regions”, according to AFP.

Tajikistan and Taliban, who have run the Afghanistan since 2021, have a strained relationship. The attack has taken place at a time when Pakistan and Taliban’s relationship has plunged to a new low and the two sides had worst border clashes last month in which dozens were killed and hundreds were injured.

In recent months, Taliban forces have clashed along the Tajik border as well, but those clashes did not make international headlines. In any case, jihadist groups are active in the mountainous border region that spans around 1,350 kilometres (840 miles) between the two countries, according to AFP.

Despite tense relations, Tajikistan has cautiously engaged with the Taliban. Tajik officials have held diplomatic meetings with the Taliban and met the opening of markets in border towns and supplying electricity.

Several Chinese companies operate in Tajikistan, particularly in mining and natural resources’ extraction. Like in Balochistan where Chinese workers have been targeted, one Chinese worker was killed in a familiar attack.